Risers:

PageGroup – +5.99%
Watches of Switzerland Group – +5.65%
Burberry – +5.34%
THG – +5.27%
British Land – +4.80%

Raspberry Pi and Ocado are both up 2%.

Fallers:

Entain – -4.46%
Rathbones – -3.18%
Ibstock – -2.79%
IP Group – -2.59%
Goodwin – -2.50%

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Applications for Greater Manchester businesses to join a new fully funded scale-up programme have now opened.

‘International Scale Up’ has been launched by GM Business Growth Hub, specifically for businesses looking to expand their activity overseas. 

The programme is open to businesses in any sector or size, as long as they have a scalable product or service ready for international markets. They can apply for the programme here.

Applications close on 24th October and the programme starts mid-November 2025.

Payments tech firm Form3 has secured a strategic investment from Nationwide alongside a debt facility from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.

The global account-to-account payments infrastructure platform will use the funds to expand in the United States and says it is now on the cusp of profitability.

The investment from Nationwide deepens a long-standing relationship with Form3, following an initial investment in the firm in 2020.

Visa and British Patient Capital invested in Form3 last year as part of a Series C extension.

Searches for Christmas jobs have hit their highest level in at least nine years, according to new data from Indeed.

Searches for accounted for 0.8% of all UK job searches, up 28% on the same time last year and the highest share observed since comparable data began in 2018. However seasonal job opportunities are not quite so abundant, meaning demand for festive roles is outpacing supply.

The surge in interest suggests that cost-of-living pressures and a softer jobs market are prompting more people to seek temporary work over the festive period, Indeed speculated.

Scottish firm Mapify has been selected as one of 14 UK startups to receive backing from global investor Antler.

The platform uses AI to improve  ogistics and asset management across warehousing, transport and infrastructure equipment.

Antler is investing £1.7 million across the startups – selected from a pool of almost 100 – following its latest London residency.

Mapify helps SMEs and large corporates manage all their assets, from trucks and boilers to warehouses and industrial estates, using AI-powered contextual search. The platform already supports a number of clients, uncovering significant inefficiencies, including millions of pounds per year in savings through its real-time dashboards.

Author: Christopher Maguire

Experienced entrepreneur Frazer Durris has joined BusinessCloud as non-executive chairman.

Durris previously founded and exited Lancashire-based energy specialist Businesswise Solutions.

Durris has been advising BusinessCloud’s co-owners Jonathan Symcox and Chris Maguire on an unofficial basis for a year but has agreed to take on a more formal role as non-executive chairman.

He said: “BusinessCloud is a hugely respected name in the media landscape and I’ve really enjoyed getting to know the business in an unofficial role over the last 12 months.

“Highlights have included moving into their first office, making their first hire and launching Northern Leaders.

“Jon and Chris have got ambitious growth plans so it seemed like the perfect time to formalise our arrangement by becoming non-executive chairman.”

London-based startup Orbiri has raised £320,000 to help parents to protect their children from excessive smartphone use.

Research show that 93% of parents believe social media harms children but 74% say enforcing smartphone limits feels impossible.

Orbiri’s solution offers preset boundaries around screen time for children. Rather than leaving schools and families to fight isolated battles, the platform enables children, parents and schools to adopt and coordinate around shared limits that apply to everyone in the community.

Synthax, an AI-powered operating system for outpatient clinics, has closed a £500k funding round.

The London firm says it will accelerate adoption of its products across the US and global healthcare market.

The oversubscribed round was led by Fuel Ventures with support from Mount Fund and Antler, and included angel investors such as two US-based cardiologists.

Capita CEO Adolfo Hernandez has released a statement reflecting on the £14m fine issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“As an organisation delivering essential public services as well as key services for private sector clients, Capita was among the first in the recent wave of highly significant cyber-attacks on large UK companies,” he said.

“When I joined as CEO the year after the attack I accelerated our cybersecurity transformation, with new digital and technology leadership and significant investment. As a result, we have hugely strengthened our cybersecurity posture, built in advanced protections and embedded a culture of continuous vigilance.

“Following an extended period of dialogue with the ICO over the last two years, we are pleased to have concluded this matter and reach today’s settlement. The Capita team continues to focus tirelessly on our Group transformation journey for the benefit of our customers, our people and wider society.”

The outsourcing firm also told BusinessCloud that it expects free cash outflow before the impact of business exits of between £59-79m, with no other changes to the previous guidance of £45- 65m. It continues to expect to be cash positive from the end of 2025, while its full-year 2025 guidance remains unchanged.

Kneu Health, a precision neurology platform for Parkinson’s and dementia, has closed a £4.2 million oversubscribed seed round.

Co-led by Oxford Science Enterprises and Cedars-Sinai, with participation from Social Impact Enterprises, JIMCO, G.K. Goh Ventures and SXSW London, the funding will accelerate US expansion by scaling Parkinson’s deployments, expanding commercial capacity, and publishing outcomes data, while also advancing dementia monitoring.

The round brings Kneu’s total funding to date to $11.2m.

Nanoco Group plc has been awarded a grant from Innovate UK for the development of a semiconductor quantum dot ink for one-step coating of image sensors.

The Runcorn firm is a world leader in the development and manufacture of cadmium-free quantum dots and other nanomaterials.

The six-month project is forecast to cost £100,000 and will be 70% funded by Innovate UK.

We recently reported how CTO Dr Nigel Pickett, who founded the Manchester spinout 24 years ago, is to retire early next year.

In 2023 it won $150m in a legal dispute with Samsung, settling on a no fault basis for the alleged infringement of the group’s intellectual property. In February this year it commenced litigation against another multinational electronics corporation in LG Technologies, alleging that it has willfully infringed on a number of its patents in production of its televisions.

ZILO, a firm which specialises in asset and wealth management software, has appointed Andrew Cole as chief operating officer.

Cole will support ZILO’s global expansion drive and implement processes and systems to prepare the company for the next stage of its development.

He joins from Fidelity International, where he most recently served as head of global platform solutions delivery, leading global operations teams of over 1,100 employees across 10 international locations.

Private equity investor LDC has made a ‘significant’ investment in performance marketing agency Shoptimised.

Founded in 2018, Tyneside-based Shoptimised’s software-as-a-service platform helps retailers, and the marketing businesses that support them, to increase online sales.

The business has seen strong growth in recent years as more businesses look to enhance the performance of their eCommerce marketplaces amid rising demand. It employs over 40 people and has more than 1,000 customers in the UK and Europe.

LDC is backing Shoptimised’s management team, led by Nick McQue, Brad Hall, Scott Hollande, Alex Sinden, Scott Walters and co-founder John Cave. David Zborowski recently joined the business as CTO to lead the future development roadmap and help the business to combine product feed optimisation with industry leading AI.

CybaVerse has closed a Series A funding round at £5 million.

The Chichester cybersecurity company raised the funds from Pembroke VCT, Airbridge and Haatch to ‘switch from founder-led sales to a scalable SaaS growth model’.

Founded in 2018, CybaVerse has grown from a boutique consultancy into an established UK cyber security vendor, with nearly 40 employees and a rapidly expanding customer base. 

Audioboom Group plc has reported a record Q3 trading period.

The global podcast company said that for the quarter ended 30th September 2025 adjusted EBITDA profit was $1.2 million, up 18%; revenue was $20.4m, up 9%; and gross profit was $4.3m.

All were records for Q3.

Adjusted EBITDA profit for the nine months to 30th September was $3m, up 127% on the same period last year, with revenue of $55.5m, up 5%.

Average monthly distribution for Q3 was 135m downloads and video views, up 40% on Q3 2024 following the acquisition of Adelicious in July 2025 and the ‘fast-paced growth of Audioboom’s video podcasts’.

The group has in excess of $79m revenue for 2025 booked – 7% up on total 2024 revenue with 11 weeks of the year remaining.

RWS Holdings plc has appointed Stephen Lamb as CFO.

The content solutions company said he will join in the first quarter of 2026.

Lamb has 25 years’ experience working in high-growth, listed international business services companies, including in software and data product markets. He has been group finance director and a board member at Midwich Group plc – an AIM-listed audio visual distribution business with £1.3bn annual revenues – for the last seven years.

He has also served as CFO for the international division of Iron Mountain Inc, overseeing $800m revenues and operations in 37 countries, and held several senior finance roles at Regus plc, now part of IWG plc.

Earlier in his career he spent 13 years at Experian plc, culminating as regional CFO for the Asia-Pacific and India division, having previously qualified as a chartered accountant at PwC.

Oxford Metrics has returned to year-on-year revenue growth.

The listed smart sensing and software company services life sciences, entertainment, engineering and smart manufacturing markets.

For the financial year ended 30th September 2025, it said overall group revenue and adjusted EBIT is expected to be broadly in line with market expectations.

The group finished the year with a cash balance of £37m after acquisition consideration of £5.4m, £4.2m on dividend payment and £8.3m spent on share buybacks.

 

 

 

The Information Commissioner’s Office has issued a fine of £14 million to Capita for failing to ensure the security of personal data related to a breach in 2023 that saw hackers steal millions of people’s information.

Capita plc has been fined £8m and Capita Pension Solutions Limited has been fined £6m, giving a combined total of £14m.

The cyber attack took place in March 2023. The personal information of 6.6m people was stolen, from pension records and staff records to the details of customers of organisations Capita supports. This included sensitive information such as details of criminal records, financial data or ‘special category’ data.

The ICO initially informed Capita of its provisional intention to fine it a combined total of £45m. Capita then submitted representations and mitigating factors on the provisional decision, which the ICO considered. This included the improvements made after the attack, support offered to affected individuals and engagement with other regulators and the National Cyber Security Centre.

The ICO and Capita have now agreed to a voluntary settlement. Capita has acknowledged the ICO’s decision and admitted liability, agreeing to pay a final penalty of £14m without appealing.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Shares in THG plc jumped 10.9% on Friday morning after the online retail group posted its highest organic growth in four years.

Its shares, as of 3:35pm on Tuesday, were trading at 41.5p – up from 37.4p at the close of play yesterday.

This is the highest it has been since early January and its market cap now sits at £520.4m.

The turnaround has also seen THG rejoin the FTSE 250, reflecting a growing belief that its strategy is starting to deliver.

Author: Patrick Killeen

Shares in Mitie Group plc have surged more than 11% today after the facilities management and professional services firm reported strong first-half trading and confirmed plans to resume a £100 million share buyback.

The FTSE 250 company said it expects higher full-year operating profit after a strong start to FY26, citing growth across its Technology Services and Decarbonisation divisions.